Love You Anyway
by Laura Schiller
Summary: Three short vignettes. Masaya may not be perfect after all, but that doesn't mean he can't be perfect for Ichigo.


Love You Anyway

By Laura Schiller

Based on: Tokyo Mew Mew

Copyright: Reiko Yoshida, Mia Ikumi

"Masaya, look!" she says as he's walking her home, squeezing his arm and beaming down at the rainbowy puddle on the cement. "Look at those colors, aren't they pretty?"

"Ichigo, that's an oil spill from a car," he says, raising his eyebrows as he steers them both around it. "Disgusting. What kind of idiot drives a car in this part of the city, anyway? Everything's within walking distance. We're on top of each other."

He eyes up the concrete apartment buildings, the streetcar tracks and the flashing neon signs in obvious dislike. Ichigo blows a strand of hair off her face with an irritated puff. "I told you _An Inconvenient Truth_ would just upset you. We could've watched _High School Musical_ instead."

"If you think I'm watching that Efron character with his bleating voice – hold on." He stops and lets go of her arm to pick up the discarded plastic rings from a six-pack of beer to toss them into a trash can. "Honestly, _two_ steps away … are these people blind or just plain drunk?"

She sighs quietly. Some days, she can join him, fully commiserating with his disgust for the way the human race mistreats its planet. And then again, some days he lifts up his eyes from the trash on the sidewalk to actually look at the clouds in the sky, pet friendly dogs and admire babies in strollers the way she does. But on days like today, well … there's really nothing to do but listen.

-TMM –

"How do you say, 'The plane to Heathrow Airport leaves at ten o'clock'?" Masaya reads from the English textbook. He is sitting at her desk, as usual, with the wheeled chair swivelled in the direction of where she is lounging on her pink canopy bed.

"Ma-sa-yaaa, I'm bored," she whines, taking a much-chewed pencil out of her mouth to wave it around. "Can't we take a break?"

"Not until we finish the page. I know you don't like English, but if you don't get a passing grade this semester you might just fail the course."

"I know, I _know._ You sound just like Carter-sensei. Here I thought having you for a tutor would be fun."

Masaya's face as he catches her eye becomes stern; his champion face, as she thinks of it. It's a look he usually saves for his opponents in kendo, not for her. "Now that's childish, Ichigo," is all he says.

That sort of remark from Shirogane, for example, would only make her stamp her feet and yell. However, the very rarity of Masaya's criticisms during their relationship so far have ensured that she takes each one to heart. She does so now, lowering her head, smoothing the frayed binding on her own much-abused textbook in silent contrition.

"Sorry," she says, after a pause. "I know you're doing your best to help. Okay, hang on. What was that sentence again?"

- TMM –

After Masaya's formal introduction to the Mew team – and his first shift as a waiter at the Café Mew Mew – Ichigo once again finds herself wondering how she ever got the good luck to find him. How many other teenage boys would willingly put on a bow tie and suspenders to work with five girls in a miniature pink castle with heart-shaped windows? Except, of course, for Shirogane and Akasaka.

"I really wonder about those employers of ours," Masaya says, echoing her thoughts.

His tight-lipped expression gives her pause. "What do you mean?" she asks.

"I can believe that they don't want the government involved," he continues, "After all, the aliens _were_ the late Shirogane-sensei's area of expertise, right?" She nods. "And I can see how two boys who lost their mentor to a Chimera Anima would take the invasion personally. But really, Ichigo, that building … "

She giggles. "I know, right? But it's supposed to look girly. See, when they sent out their scanning beam thing to check for compatible DNA, the five of us were the only people they came up with. But since all they knew was that we're teenage girls … " She shrugs, leaving Masaya to figure out the rest.

"Ah. Right." He locks his arms behind his back. "Teenage girls … and what on Earth _posessed_ them to send you out to fight in those skimpy costumes?"

His vehemence takes her by surprise. The last time she saw him this angry, he was fencing with Kish as the Blue Knight. He is so different from Kish in his demeanor – kind, polite, rational - it's easy to forget that he, too, can be dangerous.

"We need to be free to move," she says, drawing herself up in defense of her employers. "Mint flies, Lettuce swims, and the rest of us do a whole lot of running and jumping. They have to be light – like figure skating costumes, you know? And they even come with force fields to control the temperature around us. It's how we got through the winter. Shirogane may be a jerk, but he has reasons for what he does."

"I'm sure," Masaya mutters, his eyes flickering up and down Ichigo's slim figure.

"Wha – oh, come on. Don't tell me you're – "

"Jealous?" he concludes, making her blush. "Quite honestly, yes. A little. It's not that I don't trust you, Ichigo," he adds, turning sincere brown eyes on her. "But I know how men think … you're just adorable with your pink uniform and cat ears, Ichigo. It's downright distracting. And you spend so much time with him, and he's got that whole blonde punk surfer boy image going for him … "

She can't help blushing a little as she remembers a certain waltz; a certain 'don't-you-dare-pity-me' kiss that was surprisingly pleasant even if it did turn her into a cat. Not to mention the time she ran into Shirogane without his shirt.

"Okay," she admits, "He _is_ kind of hot. And sometimes I get the feeling he likes me … "

Masaya looks at her like a thundercloud; she holds up her hands in a pacifying gesture.

"But no," she says. "Just - no. He's my _boss_, for one. Also at least two of my friends are crushing on him – " Moe and Lettuce, to be exact. "So according to the unwritten girl code, he's off limits. And even if it weren't for all that, Shirogane and I fight like, uh … cats. No pun intended." A relieved Masaya grins down at her anyway.

"Flying sparks all the time are so exhausting," she continues, uncharacteristically sober. "I need peace and quiet sometimes too."

She has no words for what she is trying to express – the serenity she feels in Masaya's presence. She feels it even when they argue; they do it not for the sake of arguing, but only when they have a genuine problem that needs working out. He is her voice of reason, her comforter, her Blue Knight. He is not perfect … but he is perfect for her.

"I'm glad," he murmurs, stirring her hair. "Because the feeling's mutual."

She links her arm through his and leans her head against his shoulder; a position that does not allow for fast walking, but then again, she feels like they have all the time in the world.


End file.
